


Love in High School

by Ketoprofen



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Explicit Language, F/M, Fluff and Angst, No Smut, Teen Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-26
Updated: 2020-07-04
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:28:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24921577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ketoprofen/pseuds/Ketoprofen
Summary: Levi and Kat (OC) were inseparable as kids, but after five years of no contact they're trying to rekindle their friendship.Rated M for language.
Relationships: Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin)/Original Female Character(s), Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin)/Reader, Levi/Reader
Comments: 18
Kudos: 29





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I suck at coming up with story titles.
> 
> To any new readers, I label my works as both Levi/Reader and Levi/OC because I do my best to make Kat's appearance vague.
> 
> This is not meant as a prequel to "Trost High". It's just a short little fluffy slice-of-life romance with a lot of teen angst.
> 
> I will update every two or three days.

"Did they tell you who you were getting paired up with?" Hange asked me as we walked through the mostly-empty hallways of our high school. The school day had ended about thirty minutes ago so most of the students were gone.

"No, all they did was ask if there were any specific players that I refused to be partnered with," I answered.

"Same. Weird," she said with a finger to her chin. 

I shrugged. "Maybe they waited until the last minute to decide. They wait until the last minute for everything else so it wouldn't surprise me."

"Yeah you're right. Well, this is it." We stopped in front of a classroom and stepped inside. A teacher sat at the front, but he wasn’t paying attention to any of the students in the room as he focused on grading papers. Instead of the desks being lined up in neat rows facing the front of the class, they were split into groups of two or three. Every little desk island had a single occupant from the same club Hange and I belonged to: The Academic Preparedness Society. Right inside the classroom door sat a list of names - a nerd paired with a jock, to put it crudely.

Hange and I were long-time members of the club. It was specifically designed to help members get into college, and one of the biggest things the teachers and students in charge did was find and create opportunities to earn volunteer hours because volunteer hours always looked good on college and scholarship applications. The club's newest volunteering opportunity involved tutoring athletes. Apparently, a few of the star football players failed various classes the year before which would normally result in removal from the team, but because they were so _vital_ to the team's success, they couldn't be kicked off. But they also couldn’t miss summer practice by getting stuck in summer school. As a “solution”, these players got to repeat the class they failed and were now required to get tutoring in that class. If they didn't show up for tutoring or if they failed the class again, they were kicked from the team. No one knew who was getting paired up with who, all they knew was the room number where they were supposed to meet every Tuesday and Thursday for tutoring sessions. 

I looked back at the teacher again. He was the one in charge of the club and he was obviously busy. I knew he was only here to act as a chaperone and make sure everyone was doing what was required of them.

"Oh hey you're paired with Levi," Hange told me as she pointed at the list.

I sighed. "I guess now I get to find out if he remembers me or not."

Levi and I had grown up next door to each other and, prior to middle and high school, had been inseparable best friends. I had to move away at the end of fifth grade and we went to different middle schools which put an end to us hanging out everyday after school. We were zoned for the same high school, but I quickly realized that Levi had either completely forgotten what I looked like or he was pretending he didn't know me in front of his new friends because every time I tried to talk to him, I got ignored. It was like I was a ghost. He never heard me or saw me and would always just keep walking past me. I finally gave up halfway through freshman year and convinced myself that it was better this way. We had been friends when we were kids because it was convenient and we didn't have any other friends. But now he was a popular football player and had his choice of friends, so why would he choose to hang out with me? Besides, I had college to prepare for. And too many friends meant too many distractions. I had Hange for a friend and that was plenty for me.

I sat down at one of the desk islands and started pulling out paper and pencils. I wasn't sure what subject I was tutoring him in, but I assumed it was one of the sciences because that was the only subject for which I volunteered. While I waited, I got out my phone and started flipping through some flashcards I found online. We weren't very far into senior year, but I already had exams coming up. My AP teachers were not messing around this year.

I was still flipping through vocabulary terms when I heard a commotion coming down the hall. I looked at the clock and realized that it must be the football players all talking with each other on their way here. They were all about ten minutes late.

Five players eventually walked through the door: Erwin Smith, Nile Dok, Mike Zacharias, a guy I only knew as "Ness", and finally Levi. They all ignored us nerds and went to the list posted nearby to see who they were paired with. In turn, I ignored them and switched to reading the news on my phone. I wondered if I would have gotten an easy ride through school if I had been an athlete. It must be nice to get everything handed to you.

The next thing I knew, Levi was saying my name really loudly and pulling me out of my chair. All I managed to do was stare wide-eyed as he wrapped me up in the tightest hug I'd ever had in my life.

He must have felt how tense I was because he pulled back after a few seconds and held me at arms length. "You remember me, right?" He asked.

My eyebrows came together in confusion. "Yes?"

He smiled - something I hadn't seen in years - and pulled me back into the hug. "When did you move back to town?"

"What?" I asked as I struggled to get out of his grip so that I could see his face.

"Was it recently?" He continued his questioning.

"Levi, what are you talking about?"

"How long ago did you move away? Six years? I've missed you, I'm glad you guys moved back and we're back in school together," he explained.

I had to stare at him. He'd always had a dry sense of humor and sometimes it was difficult to tell if he was being serious or just messing with me. After I'd stared at him for a few long seconds, I realized he was being serious. He remembered me, but it really was like I'd been a ghost the last three years. "I've been here since freshman year," I told him quietly. "We only went to different schools for middle school."

"Oh," he said as his hands finally fell away from my arms. "Shit. Kat, I’m sorry."

I looked away from him and saw that everyone was staring at us. Hange gave me a sympathetic grin. With a sigh, I looked back to him and did my best to grin. "It's fine. I get it. You're really busy with everything, it's easy not to notice stuff sometimes." Especially when that 'stuff' is just me. 

Now he was frowning at me. “Kat seriously, I’m sorry. I don’t know how-”

I interrupted him. “And I’m serious. It’s fine.”

“You used to be really bad about saying ‘it’s fine’ when it’s not fine.”

“Yeah well…” I trailed off, trying to think of an excuse. He was right, of course, and I was still bad about it because I was so non-confrontational and I never wanted to upset anyone. “That was a long time ago,” I finally finished my thought. “What subject am I tutoring you in?” I asked as I sat back down in my seat. The urge to change the subject and move on was really strong.

“Chemistry,” he answered with a heavy sigh as he sat down next to me.

“Lucky for you, I am crazy good at chemistry,” I said in some kind of half-assed effort to lighten the mood.

Unfortunately, it didn’t work. Levi just quietly got out his homework and his chemistry book and we started the session.

\----

The next time I saw Levi was at our next tutoring session two days later. I assumed that the football players would be late again, so I made sure to bring some of my own study material to keep me occupied in the meantime.

I was pleasantly surprised and confused to see Levi already sitting at his desk when I walked in. He had his chemistry homework and his book out on the table, but he was staring at the wall and bouncing his leg like he was nervous.

“Hey,” I greeted him as I walked up and sat next to him.

“Hey Kat,” he answered with a grin as his leg stopped bouncing. “How was your day?”

I shrugged. “It was fine. In Biology next week we’re dissecting fetal pigs, so we went over all the safety precautions for that.”

He grimaced. “That’s fucking gross.”

I shrugged again. “It’s a really good way to learn basic anatomy.”

“Why do you need to know the anatomy of a pig?”

“Pig anatomy is really similar to human anatomy,” I said.

“Really?” He asked as he leaned toward me a little. “I didn’t know that.”

“Some classes dissect cats because they're also similar, but I didn’t want to do that.”

“Why not?” He asked. “I figured with how much you hated cats, you’d jump at the chance.”

When I looked up at him, he was giving me a goofy grin. I playfully rolled my eyes at him. “Just because I was scared of that stray cat that lived behind our houses doesn’t mean I hate all cats.”

He put his elbow on the desk and propped his chin up on his fist. “I seem to remember you begging me to scare it away every time we played outside.”

“He was covered in bald patches and only had one ear. He was a creepy cat!” I insisted.

“One time you even said you would kiss me if I did it.” He leaned in even closer to me now. Close enough that I could feel his body heat. “And if I remember correctly you still owe me that kiss.”

I’m certain I turned five different shades of red as I started stuttering and looked down at my hands. Shit, he was hot now. And he obviously knew it or else he wouldn’t have flirted with me like that. I fiddled with my pen and looked at my fingers so that I didn’t have to look at him. I wanted to change the subject. “Anyways, whether it’s a cat or a pig, it’s way more helpful than just dissecting a frog.”

“I never had to do that,” he said as he leaned back in his seat and finally gave me my personal space back.

“Why not?” I asked. “I thought every freshman biology class had to do one.”

He smirked. “The girl who was my partner had a huge crush on me, so she did the whole thing.”

There it was. The reminder that he wasn’t my cute best friend anymore - he was just another douchebag jock going through life on easy mode. I couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed. I had liked the flirting, even if it did make me nervous. He was really good-looking and it felt nice to get some romantic attention from him. But I should have known better. He was a popular, attractive athlete who could get any girl in school. He probably flirted with anything that had boobs. Hell, he may not even realize he’s flirting - it maybe just came so naturally that it was how he interacted with everyone.

I steeled my expression and let out a long breath. I buried the disappointment in some dark recess of my brain and picked up his homework assignment. "Which problems do you need help with?"

\----

Tutoring ended two hours later and I started packing up the few things I’d taken out of my backpack. I started going through a mental checklist of things I needed to do and homework I needed to start once I got home. 

“You doing anything this weekend?” Levi asked me.

I almost didn’t hear him at first because I was so wrapped up in my own thought process. “Probably studying and doing homework like usual,” I answered him as I stood up and slung my backpack onto my back.

"Not doing anything with your boyfriend?" He asked.

I couldn't stop myself from snorting unattractively. "Me? Boyfriend? Yeah, okay."

"Why do you say that like it's the most unbelievable thing ever?"

"Because it is. I've never had a boyfriend. Why would it happen now?"

"How have you never had a boyfriend?"

I rolled my eyes. This conversation was boring and pointless. Why was he being so nosey? "I guess no one's ever liked me like that. No one's ever asked me out."

"I find that hard to believe."

"Why?" I asked.

"No guy has ever asked you to go to the movies? Or go to dinner?"

I scrunched my eyebrows together. "Well yeah, of course."

"That's how you ask someone on a date."

I blew a raspberry. "That's stupid. Why wouldn't you just ask 'do you want to go on a date?' I don't want to try and decipher if you're asking me on a date or just wanting to hang out." I realized we had been standing in the classroom talking this whole time and we were the only ones left. The teacher was giving us a subtle glare in an effort to tell us to get the hell out so that he could go home. I made sure I had all of my stuff and walked out of the room.

Levi followed me, coming up so that he was in step with me. We walked for a minute or two in silence before he asked, “You wanna go see a movie or something this weekend?”

“No thanks,” I said. “There’s nothing out right now that I’m interested in seeing.”

“Okay, what about getting dinner one night?”

“Nah,” I said. “Mom and I already have plans to go out for dinner tomorrow night and I have too much homework to go out for dinner two nights in one weekend.” 

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Okay, will you be busy next weekend?”

I shrugged. “Who knows? Probably. All my classes this year are AP or college-prep so I get a lot of homework.”

“Fuck you’re so smart.”

I gave another shrug. “Sure.” I didn’t necessarily agree with it, but something told me it would turn into an argument where I would insist that I was just good at doing homework and he would insist that I was actually smart.

“Can I get your number? Then if you ever have a free weekend, you can text me and we can do something," he said.

I finally stopped walking and looked at him. I didn’t think I would ever have a weekend that was completely free, but the look he was giving me almost made me blush. I saw another flash of the boy I used to spend all of my time with after school and on the weekends. The one who gave me a kiss on the cheek the day I moved away and promised that we would be best friends forever. He may be a massive flirt and a slacker now, but maybe we could at least rekindle a little bit of what we had before. It might be nice to have another friend to sit with at lunch or go to the movies with.

I gave him a little smile and took my phone out of my pocket. “Give me your number and I’ll text you so you have mine. Maybe in a month or two when I get used to my classes I’ll have a free afternoon to do something.”

He practically beamed as he told me his number. I sent him a message and his phone dinged that he received it. Immediately, he took his phone out and saved me as a contact. When he was done, he spun his phone around so that I could see the name his picked: ‘Kitty Kat’

I groaned in fake exasperation. “You swore you would never call me that again after the second grade.”

“I had my fingers crossed behind my back.”

I bumped my shoulder against his and laughed. He chuckled a little in response and we started walking again.

“Does your mom still make a bunch of your clothes?” He asked me after a few seconds.

“Yeah, she’s still working at the same clothing shop,” I told him. “Why?”

“I might ask her to make me something. I feel like everything at the regular stores just have huge logos pasted on and I hate that.”

“She should be here soon to pick me up, you can ask her then.” We only had one car, so my mom drove me everywhere. I had my license, but my mom couldn’t afford two cars and she wanted me to focus on school so she refused to let me work so that I could pay for my own car.

Mine and Levi’s friendship had actually blossomed out of the friendship between our mothers. Levi and I were both really shy kids, which was in stark contrast to our very outgoing moms. When my mom, my dad, and I moved into the neighborhood, Kuchel came over to introduce herself and she and my mom immediately hit it off. Naturally, with them spending so much time together and dragging us kids along, we became friends. And even to this day, Kuchel and my mom would meet up for dinner two or three times a month.

“Have you heard from your dad at all?” Levi asked as he joined me on a bench at the front of the school. 

“I think maybe my mom talked to him recently, but I don’t have anything to say to him,” I answered. “You know the lady he left my mom for?”

“Was she the one who was there to pick him up the day your mom kicked him out?” He asked.

“Yeah, same lady. Apparently she was already pregnant when my mom kicked his sorry ass out.”

He let out a low whistle. “Sorry.”

I shrugged. “It’s whatever.”

After that, my mom filed for divorce. The divorce finalized a year later and we had to move because my mom couldn’t afford the mortgage on the house with her single income. She had a good job as a seamstress and was a thrifty lady - she made most of our clothes by hand with the leftover fabric that her job was going to throw away otherwise - but it was just too much. Now we rented a much smaller house on the other side of town. We didn’t have a lot of extra money, but we didn’t mind because it meant we got to spend more quality time together. She taught me how to cook because we couldn’t afford to eat out a lot, she taught me to sew a little bit, and she was always willing to at least try and help me with my homework if I needed it.

Levi and I sat for a few more minutes catching up before my mom’s car pulled up. I stood from the bench and Levi followed, opening the door for me before I had the chance to get it myself. I blushed a little and mumbled a thanks to him.

“Hey Ms. Sloan,” Levi said as he bent down to look through the open door at my mom.

“Oh my God. Levi, is that you?” She asked with a gasp as she put the car in park and climbed out of the driver’s seat. “I haven’t seen you in forever. Kat didn’t tell me you guys were friends again!” She walked around the front of the car and wrapped Levi in a hug.

He cringed a little as he hugged her back. “I’m working on it. I messed up pretty bad so I’m trying to get back in her good graces now.”

I rolled my eyes a little, but neither of them saw it.

My mom blew a little raspberry and stepped back toward the car after releasing Levi from her death grip. “Well I’m sure you’ll do just fine. I have to go, but tell your mom I said hi!”

“I sure will. Bye Ms. Sloan,” he said with a wave to my mom. Then he bent back down a little and waved at me through the passenger window. “By Kat, I’ll text you later.”

“Bye,” I said with a wave as we drove off.

We weren’t even five feet away before Mom was giving me a sly sideways grin. “So… Levi, huh? He looks different.”

I huffed. “Yeah he acts different, too.”

“In a bad way?”

“He didn’t realize we’ve been going to school together since freshman year. He thought we just moved back to town and this was my first year.” I figured that would be enough to get my point across. I wasn’t going to tell her about the flirting.

“Oh Honey I’m sorry. At least he seems like he’s trying to make it up to you.”

“Yeah he’s almost being annoying about it. He kept asking me when I would be free to go do something. I told him probably never so he gave me his number and said I should just text him any time I’m free, but I won’t bother. I’m sure he’s got plans with his friends most days so it’s not like he’ll be able to do anything last minute.” I’d known that as soon as I got his number, but I exchanged information with him anyways just to humor him. If nothing else it’ll make it easier to let him know if I ever can’t make it to a tutoring session, or vice versa.

“Don’t be so quick to assume he won’t make time for you,” she said with that same sly grin. “He might just surprise you.”

“Pfft. Okay, sure Mom.”


	2. Chapter 2

The next month of tutoring sessions proceeded in much the same manner. Levi was always there before anyone else, he was always ready to go with homework, he paid attention to everything I told him, and then when the two hours were done he’d wait with me at the front of the school until my mom arrived. 

Today he was driving me home because my mom had made him some clothes and he needed to try them on to make sure they fit correctly.

"My first chemistry test is tomorrow," he told me as we were getting in his car.

"Nervous?" I asked.

"A little."

"You'll do fine. You've improved a lot already," I patted his shoulder encouragingly.

"Only because my tutor is the best ever," he said with a grin.

I rolled my eyes. "Not the best. I just know you well enough to know how you learn."

"You do know me really well,” he said and hummed thoughtfully.

With a shrug, I said, “Not as well as I used to, but some things about people never change.”

A few long seconds of silence passed between us before he asked, “Do you want to get to know me better?”

“Yeah, of course.”

“Good,” it sounded like he let out a long breath as he said it, like he was incredibly relieved. “I’m glad you’re not still mad at me. I hope you know I would never do anything to purposefully hurt you.”

I gave him a little smile. “I know. Doesn’t mean you won’t accidentally do something. I’m sure I’ve upset people without knowing.”

“Well, if it happens in the future, just tell me. I don’t want you mad at me ever again.”

I nodded and looked out the window, thinking to myself that I probably couldn’t keep that promise. I hated confrontation so much that I often swallowed my feelings just to avoid an argument with someone. I knew that, unless he did something really, _really_ fucked up, I would just keep my mouth shut and deal with it. We were just starting to rebuild our friendship and I wasn’t going to ruin it over a petty misunderstanding.

The rest of the drive was spent in silence as we listened to music. Our moms were meeting up for dinner and drinks right after work, so Levi and I were going to have the house to ourselves. Mom told me the night before to go ahead and have Levi try on everything and to just take notes of any adjustments that needed to be made. I wasn’t a seamstress myself, but I’d had enough alterations done to my own clothing that I knew when something didn’t fit properly.

I explained everything to Levi as we walked to the back of the house where Mom had her work area. The house was supposed to have a nice enclosed sunroom for entertaining, but since we never entertained, it became Mom’s work space. There were sewing machines that did different things, shelves upon shelves of fabric, drawers and jars full of accessories like elastic, buttons, and zippers, and an adjustable dress form in the corner. A free standing clothing rack stood next to the dress form. On its hangers sat about two dozen articles of clothing in various states of completion. Hanging together on one end was a fancy dress shirt, a less-fancy polo shirt, a t-shirt, and a pair of pants that looked decidedly masculine, so I figured those were Levi’s. I grabbed the bundle of hangers and turned around to hand them over, but nearly dropped them when I saw he had stripped down to his boxers.

With a surprised yelp, I slapped a hand over my eyes and blindly held out his clothes. “Sorry!”

“Sorry for what?” He asked as he pulled the clothes from my hand.

“Sorry for seeing you almost naked. I’ll leave. Call for me when you’re ready.” I sidestepped away toward what I thought was the door, but I wasn’t about to open my eyes and check.

“Relax, Kat. You act like you’ve never seen a naked guy before.”

“Of course I have,” I squeaked in a pitch much higher than I wanted. I cleared my throat before saying, “Just not in person.”

“Really?” There was a slight sound of a chuckle in his voice.

“Yes!” I barked back and dropped my hand to glare at him, somehow forgetting that he was still half-naked. I yelped again at the sight and recovered my eyes. "I told you I've never had a boyfriend before."

With his feet bare on the tiled floor, I didn't hear him walk up to me. I flinched in surprise when I felt his hand on my wrist gently pulling my hand away from my face. I did my best to keep my eyes on his face while simultaneously willing the deep blush to leave my cheeks.

"It's okay if you want to look," he spoke in a whisper. "Can't have you completely clueless when you see your first boyfriend, right?"

In my hormone-addled brain, that made complete sense. Levi was just being a good friend and helping me get over my nerves so I wouldn't embarrass myself when the real thing happened. Just like I tutored him in chemistry, he was tutoring me in this. With that thought floating around in the back of my mind, I quietly asked, "You won't laugh at me?"

"I would never laugh at you, Kat," he said without hesitation.

Feeling reassured, I let my eyes drift down his face to the tops of his shoulders. Even with his time in the sun during football practice, his skin was somehow still all the same pale color with no tan lines. It looked ridiculously soft and my fingers reached out and lightly touched the hollow where his collarbone, neck, and shoulder met. When I realized what I was doing, I took in a sharp intake of breath and tried to pull my hand away. 

Before it got too far away from him, Levi grabbed it and brought it back to his chest. "It's fine, touch me." His voice was still that low rumble and I could almost feel the vibrations in my chest now that I was so close to him.

A slow sigh that trembled with nerves escaped my mouth as my other hand came up to mirror the first on Levi's chest. He was still and quiet as I felt along his collarbones to the tips of his broad shoulders and then down his biceps. My hands stopped at his elbows and I finally summoned the courage to lower my eyes from his neck. 

His entire body was corded muscle and smooth skin. He had no real chest hair to speak of, but it didn't look like he shaved. Then again I guess I wouldn't be able to tell until the stubble started growing back in. My hands moved to his chest for only a brief moment before they traveled down to his abs. I'd never really understood the obsession with abs that every girl I knew held, but as I looked at and felt Levi's I thought that maybe I did understand them. His weren't as rock hard and overly defined as the pictures of underwear models were - they were more lean and natural looking and I found that much more attractive.

When my hands came to his hips and my thumbs started running along his Adonis line, Levi broke his stoicism to clear his throat and gently grab my wrists. It was just then, as I was snapped out of my trance, that I saw the skin of his torso was covered in goosebumps.

"I wouldn't go any lower than that, if I were you," he warned playfully.

A blush flared over my entire face as I took a step back and pulled my hands away. "T-thanks," I stuttered out like an idiot.

He finally, _finally_ started pulling on the clothes he was supposed to be trying on. "For what?" He asked like he was completely clueless to what just happened.

Was he so used to being touched like that that it had no effect on him anymore? Or maybe it was just me. I grinned a little sadly at the thought and said, "For helping me out so I don't embarrass myself when this happens for real the first time."

"You'll be fine, don't worry. You seem to have a knack for it."

My eyebrows came together as I tried to decipher what he meant. "Have a… knack… for it?"

"Yeah," he said as he finished buttoning the long-sleeve dress shirt and started to pull on the pants. "You barely touched me and I was already getting hard."

I screeched dramatically and stepped forward so that I could repeatedly slap his shoulder. "You can't say stuff like that!"

He playfully cringed away from my assault and started laughing.

\----

As expected with my mom’s level of skill and years of experience, all of the clothes fit Levi perfectly. He left it all at our house so that Mom could make sure that everything she made was uniform and told me how many of each article of clothing he wanted. 

I thought about telling my mom what happened between Levi and me, mostly because I wasn’t exactly sure what had happened and I figured she might be able to give me advice. In the end, however, I decided to keep it to myself. Even with my inexperience in boys, I knew that what happened wasn’t really a normal occurrence between friends and I didn’t want my mom knowing that something like that happened in her house when she wasn’t home. Every time I thought about it, I could feel heat in my ears and cheeks. It was a ridiculous response to have, of course - it’s not like we kissed or had sex or anything - but it was the most I’d ever touched a boy and I just couldn’t help my reaction to it. Luckily, Levi never brought it up and I did the same. I wasn’t sure I would ever be able to talk to him about it and I really appreciated that he didn’t tease me about how I reacted. 

Obviously, I had told Hange about it and all she wanted to know was whether or not Levi and I were dating now. I told her of course not and to stop being ridiculous. She, in turn, told _me_ to stop being ridiculous. When I asked her to explain, all she kept saying in response was “You just wait”.

A week later, as Hange and I both arrived at the Thursday tutoring session, Levi told me that he’d passed his Chemistry test. And not only did he pass, but he got the highest grade in the class.

“That’s so awesome!” I smiled at the good news and gave him a tight hug. “See? I told you that you’d do just fine.”

“And I told you it’s because I have such a good tutor,” He said as he hugged me back. “We should celebrate. What are you doing this weekend?”

I pulled away from him and the two of us sat at our normal desks. “I actually have a paper due on Monday so I’ll be working on that all weekend probably.”

“What kind of sadist makes an assignment due on a Monday?” He asked as he started pulling out his homework.

All I could do was shrug in response. It didn’t bother me. I had no social life so it’s not like it disrupted any of my plans. 

“I still think we should go out. See a movie or get dinner or something,” he said.

I watched him quietly as he finished setting up everything he needed for the tutoring session. When he looked up at me, I couldn’t help but blush and look away. Had he just asked me on a date? He must have. He’s the one who said you do it by asking someone if they want to see a movie or get dinner. And he’d even said we should ‘go out’.

I finally stuttered out a nervous, “Yeah, okay.”

He gave me one of his rare smiles that was more of a grin than an actual smile. "Great, can't wait."


	3. Chapter 3

Levi and I decided that Saturday afternoon was the best time to meet up. We were going to be cliche teenagers and walk around the mall for a while before we got dinner in the food court and saw a movie at the mall's theater. 

Even if it was cliche, I was excited. This was my first ever date and it was with _Levi_. I did my best not to get too excited and hyper, but it was tough.

I spent all of Friday night trying to figure out how I wanted to do my hair. After multiple hours and hundreds of pictures, I finally decided on a cute braided hairstyle that I thought would complement my face structure and look nice with my hair texture. I then proceeded to spend almost all of Saturday morning watching YouTube videos and how to do the braid. After three hours, my arms were burning and I was over it. 

The final product didn't look perfect, but you couldn't really tell unless you knew what it was supposed to look like. Besides, for my first time I thought it looked great even if it was a little bit uneven. I put on a nice sundress my mom made me and some clean sneakers. My original plan was to wear sandals, but I knew my feet would hurt if I walked around all day in them and my toes would freeze off in a theater. With one last look in the mirror, I nodded in approval before grabbing my purse and going downstairs. 

Mom was waiting for me in the living room. "I love that braid," she complimented as we left the house.

I smiled and fought the temptation to touch my hair. "Thanks. I spent way too long teaching myself how to do it."

"Well he better appreciate the effort," she joked.

\----

We arrived at the mall and Mom dropped me off next to the entrance where Levi and I had decided to meet up. She gave me another reminder to call her if I needed her before waving goodbye and driving off. Once she was out of sight, I walked over and sat on a bench to wait for Levi.

I'd only been sitting for a few minutes when I saw a group of girls I recognized from school walking toward the area where I was sitting. Petra was pretty, popular, and always had her group of friends around her whenever I saw her. This time was no different as I saw that Nanaba, Rico, and Marie were trailing behind her.

Petra let out a small gasp when she saw me. “Kat? Is that you?”

I answered, “Yeah?” like it was a question because I couldn’t fathom why Petra was talking to me. The two of us had been friendly enough with each other in elementary school, but not since then. As far as I knew there was no animosity between us, we just ran in different social circles.

“How’s it going?” I asked once I realized that Petra was just staring at me while her three friends had a conversation behind her.

“Pretty good, actually. We just got here,” she answered.

I gave a small nod in acknowledgement. We looked at each other for a few long seconds. When I realized that she wasn’t going to say anything else, I awkwardly looked away.

“Your dress is cute, where’d you get it?” She asked as soon as I turned my eyes away from her.

I quickly looked down at myself and fluffed my skirt out a little. It was a really pretty sundress with short sleeves and just enough extra fabric in the skirt to make it breezy and comfortable. “Thanks. My mom made it, actually.”

"Your mom made your dress?" She asked with a grin on her face, but the grin didn't reach her eyes.

"Yeah, she's a seamstress and every season when prints and colors change, her job gets rid of a bunch of fabric. She brings it home and makes us stuff from it. I know it's technically too late in the year to wear this print, but I really like it,” I explained. I was more than happy to talk about the clothes my mom made. Sure, they were slightly out of season by the time I got them, but I wasn’t about to complain about free, high-quality, tailor-made clothing. Besides, it's not like I was incredibly fashion forward to start with.

"Oh my God that is _adorable_ ," Petra said with a gasp.

I was confused. The word she used was positive, but the way she said it made it sound like an insult. I wasn't sure if she was complimenting me or making fun of me, so I stayed quiet. I noticed that her friends had stopped talking and were silently watching the two of us.

"Did she do your hair, too?" She asked after a few seconds.

I unconsciously played with my hair just a little. "No, I taught myself how to do it from YouTube videos."

"Well it's great, very retro. I haven't seen anyone braid their hair like that since, like, third grade," she said with the same dead-eyed smile.

Again I had the feeling that she was just fucking with me. And again I stayed silent. If she was trying to get a rise out of me, I wasn't going to let her. It would just ruin mine and Levi's date if I let her bother me.

She stared at me for a few awkward seconds, probably in an attempt to make me uncomfortable, before her eyes flicked over my shoulder and she yelled, "Hey Levi!" with a wave of her hand.

Thank God, he got here just in time. Now we could go and hopefully not bump into Petra and her friends anymore. I let a little smile slip onto my face as I stood up from the bench and turned around to face him. He was wearing one of the shirts my mom made for him. I would have to let her know how good it looked on him.

"Hey Kat. Hey Petra," Levi responded as he walked up. "Where's everyone else?"

My smile dropped. Everyone else?

"They're not here yet, but it should only be a few more minutes," Nanaba answered. “Mike said they had to stop for gas on the way.”

Levi must have seen the question on my face because he gave me an apologetic look as he said, "Sorry, I told everyone I was coming to the mall to hang out with you and they all asked if they could come, too. Is that okay?"

I stared at him blankly for just a second before I faked a smile. "Yeah sure, it's fine."

He frowned. "Are you sure?"

I just nodded silently in return. I wasn't mad at him. I was upset with myself for thinking this was a date. I wasted so much time doing my hair and picking an outfit. Of course this wasn't a date - he just wanted to hang out as friends. If it had been a date, he would have told everyone 'no' when they asked if they could tag along. I was stupid to think he liked me as more than a friend.

Our little group stood around for a little bit longer waiting on everyone else to arrive. I awkwardly stood to the side as Petra and Levi talked about stuff I didn't understand and people I didn't know. Once the entire group was assembled, we entered the mall with me trailing behind everyone. Maybe once we walked around for a little while, Levi and I could actually hang out some. I may have been wrong about it being a date, but I could at least try and get some time with him outside of school.

\----

An hour passed and, in that time, I exchanged less than ten words with anybody, including Levi. I knew who everyone was and they knew me, but I wasn't friends with any of them. Compounded with the fact that I'm shy, no one seemed interested in talking to me, and Petra was holding all of Levi's attention, all I ended up doing was silently trailing behind them as they walked around and had fun.

At one point the guys went into some sporting goods store and left me and the rest of the girls by ourselves outside. I pretended that I was looking at something inside the store’s display window so that maybe they would forget I was there and I could avoid more mocking. Petra hadn’t said anything to me since Levi arrived, but I had a bad feeling she was just itching for a chance to throw a few more barbs my way.

As soon as the guys were out of earshot, Petra turned to her friends. "Okay, girl talk time. I am so riding Levi's dick later."

Her friends laughed and my mouth went dry.

"What makes you say that?" One of the girls asked. I couldn't see who it was and I didn't care enough to turn around and look.

"I asked him to give me a ride home," she said smugly. "And you know what always happens when he gives me a ride home."

I wondered if I could just walk away without anyone noticing. The reflection in the window I was pretending to look in showed that Petra and her friends were facing away from me. The guys were nowhere in sight. If I was going to make a break for it, this was my best chance. I turned back in the direction we had come from and started walking.

I managed to get about ten feet away before I heard Levi calling my name. Cursing quietly, I turned back around to face him. If I had left ten seconds earlier, I would’ve been free. He must have seen me walking by the front of the store and ran outside to catch me.

"Where are you going? I thought we were gonna catch a movie," he said as he nodded his head in the opposite direction of where I was going - back toward the mall's movie theater.

"I uhh…" I stuttered a little trying to think of an excuse. "I'm not really feeling well, so I'm just going to head home."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I'll take you home," he said as he stepped toward me.

I held up a hand to make him stop walking. "Nope, no it's fine I already called my mom and she's on her way. You go see the movie."

He frowned again, just like earlier when I said his friends unexpectedly showing up was fine. "Are you sure?"

And just like the last time he asked that, I just silently nodded my head. It wouldn’t be fair to ask him to take me home when it meant he would have to come back and pick up Petra to take her home.

"Okay. Well, I hope you feel better. I'll text you later," he said.

"Sure, thanks," I answered with a fake grin as I turned around and started walking away again. I turned the corner and got my phone out to call my mom. As I listened to the ringback, I felt my bottom lip start quivering and hot tears pooling in the corners of my eyes. I was such an idiot.

"Hello?" My mom answered her phone.

"Hey Mom," I squeaked out. "Can you come pick me up please?"

"Of course I can," I could hear the confusion in her voice. "What's wrong?"

"I'll tell you when you get here." I didn't want to have a full meltdown in the middle of the mall, and I knew that's exactly what would happen if I tried telling her over the phone. I was so mad and frustrated at myself, and I always cried when I was mad and frustrated.

"Okay, don't worry, I'm leaving right now." I could hear movement in the background as she grabbed her keys and opened the front door. "I'll be there in ten minutes."

"Thanks Mom," I said before hanging up. I felt hot now, probably because I was so upset. With ten minutes to spare, I decided to go to the bathroom and splash some water on my face.

Surprisingly, the bathroom was empty when I walked in. It gave off creepy vibes from being so desolate, but I brushed it off and went to the sink. Looking at my reflection in the mirror just made me feel even more like an idiot. Hairs were sticking out of my uneven braid and my mascara and eyeliner had run and pooled up in the corners of my eyes. All that time and effort to look nice for Levi on our first date when I should have been writing my paper. I knew better than this. I needed to get my focus back on school.

With a new sense of resolve, I let out a big puff of air and washed my face in the bathroom sink. Once all the makeup was gone, I undid my braid and pulled my hair up into a messy bun. Looking at myself in the mirror, I gave a sad grin. This was the real me. I needed to stop trying to be someone I wasn’t just to impress people. It wasn’t worth the effort and the inevitable disappointment.

My mom was walking up to the entrance of the mall as I was walking out. She took one look at me and ran over, her eyes frantic as she grabbed my shoulders. "What happened? Where is he? I will call the cops on his scrawny ass."

My eyes popped open wide in surprise. Why had she gone all Mama Bear out of nowhere? I opened my mouth to ask what was wrong, but then it dawned on me. I told her I was going on a date. Then I called her in the middle of said date and asked her to come get me without explaining why. And then she sees me with no makeup, different hair, and bloodshot eyes from trying not to cry. Of course she would assume that Levi did something nefarious.

"I'm okay Mom," I said quickly. "Nothing like that happened."

Her muscles relaxed and she pulled me into a hug. "Thank goodness. What did happen?"

“I’ll explain on the way home.”


	4. Chapter 4

That night, I left my phone upstairs in my room and hung out with my mom. Levi said he was going to text me but I really wasn’t in the mood to talk to him or see anything he had to say. Besides, he was going to be busy with his friends for a long time and then he was going to have Petra to keep him company, so it’s not like I was abandoning him.

After I told my mom what happened, she blew a raspberry and called boys stupid. I agreed whole-heartedly and assured her that boys were no longer going to be a distraction from my school work. When I told her that I might swear off boys for the rest of my life, she was quick to tell me not to be too hasty. Just because one boy sent confusing signals didn’t mean they were all bad. And she wanted grandkids one day.

To help me feel better, we stopped by the store on our way home and got everything to make my favorite dinner. I changed into pajamas as soon as we got home and we cooked dinner together. After that, we stayed up way too late watching TV and talking about random crap. When we were both falling asleep on the couch, we decided it was time to call it a night and go to bed. 

“Thanks for tonight, Mom,” I told her as we walked out of the living room and down the hall toward our bedrooms. “I feel a lot better.”

“No problem, Kat. You know I’m always here for you, no matter what,” she said.

“I know. I love you.”

“Love you too, Lady. Good night.” She walked into her room and shut the door.

I did the same and immediately flopped down onto my bed. I saw the little notification light on my phone blinking, letting me know that I had a message. I flipped it over on its face to automatically set it to ‘Do Not Disturb’, made a human burrito out of myself and my blankets, and passed out.

\----

I didn't bother with an alarm on the weekends, and I could tell based on the position of the sunlight in my room that it was late morning when I finally woke up. With a groan and a full-body stretch, I rolled over and picked up my phone to see exactly what time it was.

I had 25 text messages and a missed call.

I was unbelievably confused at first until I remembered that Levi said he would text me. I opened up my messages and, sure enough, he was the only one who had been texting me. I opened up our conversation and saw he sent me a text every 20 minutes or so. That meant he texted throughout the entire movie and when he was at Petra's house. That was rather rude of him. I'm sure his friends didn't appreciate that.

I scrolled up to the first text, which he sent not long after I got home, and started reading.

**Levi**  
_5:36pm_ : Did you make it home okay?

_5:54pm_ : Do you need me to bring you something on my way home later?

_5:55pm_ : Ginger ale, crackers, anything like that?

_5:56pm_ : I guess your mom would get that stuff for you if you need it

_7:02pm_ : Feeling any better?

_7:39pm_ : This movie is absolute garbage

They continued on in that manner for a while. He texted me when they were leaving the mall to make sure I didn't need him to stop at the store and get something. Then for a while he just texted random little thoughts and observations. He sent me a picture of what he was having for dinner, and then followed up with an apology a few minutes later in case the picture made me feel nauseous.

I saw that the missed call was from Levi at around midnight. The last text he sent followed just a minute or two after he called.

**Levi**  
_12:03am _: I called in case you haven't been hearing your notification sounds. I know they can be quiet sometimes. But I guess you're asleep so I'll talk to you tomorrow. Hope you feel better__

____

I let out a wide yawn and threw my legs over the edge of my bed as I texted him back.

____

**Me**  
_11:26am_ : Sorry I just woke up so I'm just now seeing your texts  
I'm feeling better today

____

By the time I finished standing up two seconds later, he had already texted back.

____

**Levi**  
_11:26am_ : Glad to hear it

____

_11:27am_ : Your hair and dress were really cute, btw. I forgot to tell you yesterday

____

I groaned and replied back with a simple "thanks". I didn't bother giving him the same explanations that I gave my mom and Petra. I didn't want him to know how much time and effort I had put into my appearance because he would just think I was desperate. But at least now I knew for sure that he didn't like me. 'Cute' was how you described your 6-year-old cousin, not the girl you like. I just wished he would stop with the mixed signals. I was getting real sick of all the flirting and him acting like he liked me just to find out I was wrong.

____

I quickly grabbed some breakfast and took it back with me into my room. When I walked over to my desk and turned on my computer, I saw I had a message from Hange asking how my date went and if Levi and I were finally official. I groaned around a mouthful of donut and sent her a summarized version of the previous afternoon. She sent back a few colorful insults aimed at Levi and said she was sorry that I got jerked around. After assuring her that everything was fine, I started writing my paper.

____

\----

____

I was standing at my locker Monday morning getting out the books I needed for first period when I saw someone approaching me out of my peripheral vision. I assumed it was Levi and therefore did my best to ignore them.

____

“Hey Kat,” Petra greeted as she leaned against the locker next to mine. 

____

I looked up and saw her friends standing behind her. They all had the same fake grin on their faces that they had on Saturday. Maybe their faces were permanently stuck like that. How unfortunate. “Morning,” I responded quietly.

____

“Sorry about this weekend, I know you thought it was supposed to be a date with Levi but I had his attention the whole day,” Petra started. Nothing about her tone conveyed that she was actually sorry.

____

So it was this again. I’d hoped she would just leave me alone for the rest of the school year, but apparently I had done something to paint a target on my back. That’s what I get for trying to have friends.

____

I guess Petra didn’t like my silence, because she spoke again, “I just can’t help myself around him, you know? He’s just so hot, right?” She turned back to her friends who all nodded in agreement.

____

I figured I knew how this was supposed to go. If I disagreed and said he wasn’t hot, she would berate me for being blind. Maybe she would even call me a lesbian. On the other hand, if I agreed that he was hot, then some embarrassing scenario would happen in the future where he found out and it would make things between us even weirder than they already are.

____

The only correct answer was no answer, so I just gave her a non-committal hum.

____

She must have still been unhappy with that response, because she continued, “And the sex, oh my _God_.” She paused for a second to dramatically fan her face like she was getting all hot and bothered just thinking about it. “He really knows what he’s doing, and he lasts forever. This weekend was our best fuck yet.”

____

I didn’t bother trying to call her out on her lie. He texted me every twenty minutes until midnight that night, so unless he is the world’s best multitasker, some part of what she was saying was untrue. Obviously she was trying to get some sort of reaction out of me. I’m not sure if she was hoping for an angry outburst resulting in an unfair fight between me and her friends or if she was trying to make me cry and run off. I also wasn’t sure if ignoring her would make her go away or if it would make the taunting worse in retaliation.

____

I decided to take a chance and ignore her. If I was lucky, maybe she would think I was just trying really, really hard to hide my emotions and that would be enough for her.

____

I grabbed the last of my books and closed my locker before I turned to face her. “I’m glad you guys had fun. See you later,” I said before spinning on my heel and walking away. As I headed to class, I wondered if maybe twenty minutes for sex was considered a long time. I would have to ask my mom when I got home.

____


	5. Chapter 5

I realized Tuesday afternoon that I never did get around to asking my mom if twenty minutes was considered a long time. I had completely forgotten about it until Hange and I were on our way to Tuesday tutoring. 

“Hange, question for you,” I said as we walked down the empty hall.

“Okay,” she prompted.

“Is twenty minutes a long time for sex?”

She stumbled over her own feet and I reached out to grab her arm. Before I could ask if she was okay, she looked up at me with wide eyes and red cheeks. “That’s such a weird question! How would I know?!”

I shrugged. “I dunno. Don’t you and Moblit have sex?” I asked in reference to her boyfriend. 

She blushed. “Well yeah, but-”

I interrupted her, “So how long does he last?”

Her blush got even darker. “I don’t know! It’s not like I time him!” Her blush suddenly disappeared as something seemingly clicked in her mind. “Why are you asking?”

“Petra found me yesterday and was talking about how good Levi was at sex and how long he lasts, but he was texting me every twenty or thirty minutes when he was with her on Saturday. I was just curious,” I explained.

She stared at me for a few long seconds before she asked, “He texted you all night?” 

“Yeah.”

“And you know for sure that he banged Petra?” She asked.

“It’s not like I _saw_ them, but I told you what she said before I left the mall. And obviously what happened yesterday morning at my locker.”

She hummed in thought with a finger curled around her chin. “What a weird thing to tell you.”

“Right?” I agreed and we finally started walking again. “I assume she was just trying to make me mad, but I don’t know why. I don’t remember her being a bully before.”

“She’s probably jealous,” Hange said with a wave of her hand.

“Jealous of what?” I asked.

“Jealous that Levi likes you and not her.”

I couldn’t help but sigh in frustration. “Hange, he does not."

"He does so."

"You know what happened on Saturday," I argued. "He obviously doesn't like me as anything more than a friend."

"You didn't tell me about him texting you all night! That changes everything!" She shouted as she dramatically waved her arms.

"Stop before you take an eye out," I said as I grabbed her arms and pushed them back down to their proper place at her sides. "And I don't know what you're talking about, but it doesn't matter because we're here." I nodded my chin over towards the open classroom door.

She huffed, told me the discussion wasn't over, and walked inside. With a sigh and a roll of my eyes, I followed after her.

\----

When the tutoring session ended, Levi and I gathered our things like usual and started walking together toward the front of the school. 

“You don’t have to wait with me if you don’t want to,” I told him once we were out of the classroom.

“What makes you think I don’t want to?” He asked.

All I did was shrug in response. We walked in awkward silence for a few minutes.

"Did I do something wrong?" He asked when we were almost outside.

"No, what makes you say that?"

"You haven’t been answering my texts or calls, you barely talked to me during tutoring today, and now you’re acting like you don’t want me to wait with you,” he explained. “I told you before, if I do something wrong just tell me. I don’t want you mad at me.”

I sighed. "Look, I'm sorry. You didn't do anything wrong, I just misinterpreted some situations and I'm upset with myself about that. And I guess I've been unconsciously taking out my frustrations on you."

"Misinterpreted some situations?" He repeated. "Like what? With who? What happened?"

I didn't want to tell him, but if I didn't then the same situations would just keep repeating. But how did I word it in a way that conveyed the fact that I didn't blame him? “Okay, fine,” I said with another sigh and gripped onto the straps of my backpack a little tighter. This was it. . “You’re naturally a very flirty person, which is fine, there’s nothing wrong with that. But I’m not used to it, so when you do it to me it makes me think that you like me, and that gets my hopes up. But then something happens that reminds me that you don’t actually like me, which is fine I get it, but it’s a bit of an emotional roller coaster. I’m not asking you to change who you are because that’s not fair, but could you maybe tone down the flirting with me?” I rambled it all out so quickly that I didn’t really expect him to have caught all of it. I was already rewording it in my head so that, when he asked me to repeat myself, it would make more sense. We were at the front of the school now, so I sat on one of the benches and let out a long breath. It felt good to finally get that off my chest.

It took me about fifteen seconds to realize that he wasn’t sitting next to me. I looked around and found him standing next to the bench staring at me with his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Why do you think I don’t like you?”

I couldn’t stop the scoff that left my mouth. “Because you’re you and I’m me.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” He asked as he finally sat down next to me.

I rolled my eyes. “I know when someone’s out of my league, okay? I may be clueless, but I’m not _that_ clueless.”

“I’m out of your league?” He repeated as his eyebrows quickly migrated up toward his hairline.

I gave him my best ‘are you serious?’ face in response.

He leaned forward to put his elbows on his knees and ran his hands down his face. His shoulders tensed as he took in a long breath and then relaxed as he quickly blew out all of the air. When he spoke, his palms were still covering his eyes. “Do you remember when we were 11 and you beat up Mike?”

I cocked an eyebrow. How could I forget? We were all at the age where we were starting to get taller, but Levi wasn’t really growing. For all the years before that, we’d all been the same height so no one noticed, but that year we all came back to school after summer break and Levi was suddenly the shortest kid in class. Mike Zacharias, the tallest boy in our class, decided he was going to bully Levi because of it. Unfortunately for Mike, I had hit puberty that summer and gone through a growth spurt that made me taller than him. That would obviously change in just a few short years, but I took advantage of the height difference and beat the absolute snot out of Mike for making Levi cry. It earned me a week of out-of-school suspension, but it was worth it.

“Of course I remember. Why? Is he giving you shit again?”

Levi shook his head. “No.”

“Okay, so why bring it up?” I asked.

“Because that’s when I realized that I loved you. I had liked you for a while, but when you stood up for me like that, everything changed.”

“Levi, that was a long time ago.” I hoped my voice sounded even and calm, because my pulse certainly wasn’t.

“Yeah it was, and I’ve loved you ever since.”

I suddenly felt hot as a blush rose to my face. “Is that why you’ve been trying so hard to be friends again?”

He nodded and finally removed his hands from his face. “Sorry if I confused you or made you uncomfortable.”

We sat in silence for a little bit as I thought about how to respond. “Why didn’t you just ask me to be your girlfriend?” I finally asked.

“Because you’re out of my league and I don’t deserve you,” he answered without hesitation.

“Levi, I don’t think you know what ‘out of my league’ means.”

“No, I know what it means. You’re pretty much perfect with your good grades and your nice personality and being so pretty. And you’ve got this whole future ahead of you with college and probably getting a good job doing something really cool.” He paused momentarily and leaned back against the bench. “All I’ve got is football, and that’s not going to do me any good since I can’t keep my grades up. It’s already almost impossible to make a living playing professionally, and it’s literally impossible if you don’t play for a really good university and get scouted.”

I reached over and squeezed his shoulder reassuringly. “Football isn’t all you have. You’re a super fast learner and you’re good at everything you do. That’ll basically let you do whatever you want in life.” He didn’t seem convinced, so I kept going, “You remember when we were both going to learn guitar that one summer?”

He cracked half of a smile and nodded his head. Every summer in elementary school, our moms let us pick one thing that we could learn to do or get better at. One year it was soccer, another year swimming, and in our last summer together it was guitar. Being the prodigy he is with everything, Levi taught himself to play in about a week. I stuck it out for the summer but eventually gave up when I realized it was a skill that I just couldn’t grasp. “I still can’t play,” I said. “Everything you’ve ever done, you’ve done really well. Don’t sell yourself short.”

“Is that why you think I’m out of your league? Because I’m a fast learner?” He asked as he finally looked over at me.

I dropped my hand and blushed again. “No it’s because you’re this popular guy that everyone likes and you’re really good looking and have lots of friends and all I’ve got is you and Hange.” I was rambling again, but I couldn’t stop the word vomit. “And it’s not even like you’re a cliche jock bully popular guy. You’re really sweet and funny and you admit when you’re wrong and try to fix it which a lot of people can’t or won’t do and I’m just this awkward girl who doesn’t like to talk to people-”

He interrupted me. “Okay stop, stop. You’re selling yourself way too short.”

I huffed in annoyance but didn’t say anything.

“Even if all of that is true - which it’s _not_ \- I still love you. And I’m sorry that I didn’t make that clearer before.”

“You love me?” I asked after a few seconds.

“Yes,” he said quickly.

“Then why did you have sex with Petra on Saturday?” I asked and kept my eyes glued to my fingers in my lap.

“What?” He asked and I felt him scoot closer to me on the bench. “Who told you that?”

“She did,” I answered and then gave him a synopsis of Petra’s words from Saturday afternoon and yesterday morning.

Levi let out a long groan and leaned back against the bench. “We didn’t do anything on Saturday. We hooked up a few times last year and now she keeps telling everyone we’re fuck buddies.” He looked back over and turned his body to face me. “All I did was drop her off at her house. I promise nothing else happened.”

“Why not?” I couldn’t stop myself from asking. Some masochistic part of my personality just couldn’t let this awkward conversation go.

He looked at me like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Because you and I were on a date.”

“Then why were your friends there? Why did you ignore me the whole time? I’ve never been on a date, but I’ve seen enough TV and movies to know that’s not how they’re supposed to go.”

“Because I was really nervous and I thought that my friends being there would make me more comfortable. I also thought you’d be really nervous, so when Mike suggested turning it into a group date I agreed. If I’d known that Petra was coming, I would have said no. I tried to get away from her and talk to you, but she wouldn’t let me and I wasn’t going to tell her to leave me alone because I didn’t want to hurt her feelings.”

“So you hurt mine instead?” I asked quietly.

He sighed and looked away from me. “Yeah. Seems like I do that a lot.”

I fiddled with my fingers some more and he awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. I wondered why the hell my mom was taking so long to arrive. And then, as if she heard my thoughts, my mom’s car appeared as she turned into the school parking lot and started heading our way.

“I don’t deserve you as a girlfriend with how much I’ve confused you and hurt your feelings, but I wanted you to know how I really felt and know that I never did any of that shit on purpose,” Levi said as he stood up from the bench. “I’ll talk to you later.”

“Wait,” I said so that he wouldn’t walk away just yet. “If I promise to tell you anytime you do something I don’t like, do you promise to take my concerns seriously?” The last thing I needed was to be criticized or made fun of for how I felt about a situation. 

He rushed to sit back down and face me again. “Yes. I will always hear you out. And if I don’t agree I promise I’ll explain myself and we can have the longest fucking conversations ever about feelings and shit. Whatever will make you feel better.”

I nibbled on the inside of my cheek as I thought it over. I knew I liked Levi and now I knew he liked me. But he had so much more experience than me. What if we started dating and I didn’t meet his expectations? What if I fell in love with him, but he realized he didn’t feel the same and we broke up? What if-

My thoughts were cut off when he said, “Stop overthinking it.”

“I can’t help it,” I whined. 

“Okay fine, but new rule: you’ve got to say it all out loud. And I’ll do the same.”

I rolled my eyes and groaned. “You say that like it’s so easy.” Mom’s car was in front of us now, but I saw her mouth moving like she was on the phone with someone over the bluetooth system. She didn’t seem like she was in a rush to get me in the car.

“No it’s going to be really hard, but it’ll be good for both of us,” he insisted.

I couldn’t help but blush at him as I decided on my answer, “Yes.”

“Yes?”

“Yes I’ll be your girlfriend,” I clarified.

I can count on one hand the number of times I’d seen Levi truly smile in my entire life, and even those didn’t compare to the look of pure joy and affection that spread across his face as he scooted the rest of the way over. “Can I kiss you? I really want to.”

I blushed again. “Levi, my mom’s right there.” The two of us looked over and, sure enough, Mom had rolled down the passenger window and was watching the two of us with a creepy smile on her face.

“Hey you two,” she said slowly.

Levi and I responded in kind. I felt like I might die of embarrassment.

“Hey Kuchel,” Mom said.

“ _Yeah?_ ” I heard Levi’s mom’s voice come through the speakers of the car.

“Instead of going out to eat tonight, why don’t you and Levi come over for dinner at our house?”

“ _That sounds great! I haven’t seen Kat in forever._ ”

“Great, see you then,” Mom responded and clicked a button to hang up the phone. She looked back at us with another stupid shit-eating grin on her face.

I buried my face in Levi’s shoulder and muttered, “I’m so embarrassed.”

“It’s okay,” he said reassuringly as he put an arm around my shoulders. “So am I, but I’m too happy to care.” He leaned down and cocked his head at an awkward angle so that he could place a lingering kiss on my cheek. “I’ll see you later, okay Babe?”

Goosebumps prickled across my arms at the sound of the pet name. Never in my life did I think something so simple would make me so happy. “Yeah, I’ll see you later.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading my silly little teenage angst love story, hope you enjoyed! I felt like Levi got a little OOC in some parts, but nothing would have ever freaking happened if one of these emotionally stunted teenagers didn't step up and _do something_.
> 
> I have some other stories in the works, but it might be a while before anything is finished and edited enough to publish. I'm (finally) back to work after a 2-month-long furlough so I don't have as much free time as before. On the flip side of that, now that I'm not stuck at home all day long I'm feeling less depressed and more creative, so maybe my writer's block will go away. My next work will probably be another high school AU, but with Jean/OC (not Kat) that'll be a little darker than this.
> 
> Stay safe and healthy and sane everyone - at least as much as you can. Wear your masks and wash your hands!


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